we often think of dinosaurs as some of the most terrifying creatures that have ever existed but what if I told you that there were some ancient creatures that were even more terrifying than dinosaurs ones with dagger-like teeth massive horns and gigantic sizes that would put T-Rex to shame there were even some insects that were as big as you let's travel through time as we take a look at creatures scarier and more dangerous than dinosaurs megalodons ready to come face to face with one of the scariest aquatic predators of all time meet the Megalodon the name
of this prehistoric shark literally means big tooth so you can count on the fact that these were some of the most terrifying animals ever to exist especially during their time on Earth between 3.6 to 23 million years ago megalodons were the largest sharks and one of the biggest fish ever measuring a staggering 18 M long and weighing over 70 tons these sea creatures were mythologically gigantic and dangerous they had massive Jaws that could swallow you and a friend whole at the same time even without clamping down on you with one of their many massive teeth
that were bigger than dinner plates and perfectly designed to tear through your flesh with ease megalodons ate whales dolphins and possibly other sharks and if we put them up against the scariest dinosaurs of all time they'd certainly be a contender for the most Apex of all apex predators woolly mammoths okay let's move on to a beast that our earliest human ancestors used to encounter thundering through Frozen Landscapes woolly mammoths these colossal creatures were a testament to Nature's ability to adapt to and thrive in even the harshest of living conditions they roamed the Earth during the
Ice Age from about 400,000 to 4,000 years ago and then they went extinct if they hadn't who knows if humans would have gone on to become the dominant species we are today woolly mammoths weighed between 6 and 8 tons and stood at the imposing height of nearly 4 M it just so happens that they had gigantic curved tusks that were also nearly 4 M long but while their absolutely intimidating size might make them as fiercely scary as the dinosaurs these fuzzy Giants were herbivores lucky for us that means they wouldn't need to hunt us down
for dinner saber-toothed tigers this brings us to one of the most formidable predators of the place to Scene Epic maybe even of all time the Sabertooth tiger these prehistoric cats stalk the land like silent assassins between 10,000 and 2.5 million years ago they hunted everything from mammoths to mastadons and yes it's possible that an ancient relative of yours might have had a close encounter with one of the beasts sabertooths weren't your average house cat either they could be as long as 2 meters from head to toe and way up to 300 kg plus as the
name suggests they had two massive and sharp canine teeth that resembled long curved swords these made them truly fearsome Predators they would Ambush their prey and take them out with bite after fatal bite not that I'd want to be anywhere near this Battleground but these are definitely animals that could take on even the most dangerous dinos like veloc Raptors early primates okay this one might not send the same shiver down your spine but if you look further back into our own gene pool there are some intimidating specimens like this ancestor of ours look no further
than the early primate known as dinopithecus these baboon likee primates lived between half a million to 2 and 1/2 million years ago and even though they aren't huge by today's standards at around 50 kg they were one of the largest primates of the time and considering that they would have had to compete with the previous mentioned beasts and even early humans there's no doubt that these monkeys knew how to fend off other large Predators elasmotherium this next ancient animal might have the most beautiful and least scary sounding name of them all it was known as
the Siberian unicorn but don't be fooled they were not rare magical horses actually they were an ancestor to the rhinoceros and you better believe that they were big and had one very large horn protruding from their head they were believed to have weighed around 4 and 1/2 tons but that didn't make them slow by any stretch they had long legs that allowed them to run across open grasslands at stunning speeds and while there isn't any evidence of one in our fossil records it's possible that their pathologized unicorn horns measured up to 2 m in length
glyptodon from here on out some of the animals from the past could seem a little weird and in terms of a scary weirdo that might be able to give a dinosaur a run for its money check out the armored mammal known as the glyptodon these were basically prehistoric armadillos which to be honest makes them sound kind of cute except they weren't that covered in a bony armored shell glyp Toons were up to 3 m in length and weighed over a ton their shell was an excellent protective shield from predators but that's not all they had
going for them their tails were equipped with a spiky Club likee end that was a powerful weapon against anyone who dared step in their way if an ankasa surus tried to mess with this Beast well yeah good luck gypto would Club him right in the ankles giant cockroaches in today's world cockroaches are seen as pests but also as a symbol of how life can survive even in the grossest least hospitable conditions well their prehistoric ancestors took resilience to an entirely new level approximately 359 to 299 million years ago these Critters were some of Earth's earliest
inhabitants and okay compared to some of the other creatures on this list they weren't huge but at lengths of up to 9 cm they were large for their time and bigger than any roach you'd want to find in your kitchen and while they may not stand much of a chance against dinosaur Predators they had armored exoskeletons that would have done a pretty good job protecting them yeah good luck calling an exterminator on these bad boys Pino Scorpius imagine a scorpion okay you're already running away screaming but brace yourself for something even worse a scorpion with
a tail that's bigger than you yeah that's the nightmare reality of the pulman of Scorpius using this gigantic tail they could deliver a deadly venomous sting not to mention they could attack and grab enemies with their imposing pincers with most dinosaurs you need to worry about confronting a towering Beast with massive teeth but with this giant scorpion you need to worry about all that and the potential that they could poison you yikes any creature that coexisted with them about 300 million years ago would have been best to steer clear of these killer scorpions okay these
are a lot of terrifying creatures but would they have actually stood a chance against some of the most fearsome dinosaurs which ones were those again well that's a story for another what if [Music] [Music]
